The Dream of the Nobel Technology Award 諾貝爾技術獎之夢

I dreamt of the engineering team from my former company. They had been repeatedly applying for the Nobel Technology Award, which was notoriously difficult to win. The awarding organization didn’t evaluate a single project but instead judged the consistent quality of every project the team worked on. With so many projects to handle, each with its own challenges, delivering excellence on all of them was incredibly tough and exhausting.

Since I had already left the company, I observed my former team leader, Terrence, working hard on the projects. He was so overburdened that he started questioning the meaning of his efforts. Later, I learned their team won the Nobel Technology Award, and everyone was overjoyed.

At the award ceremony, the organizers set up a dedicated area with tables and chairs for each winning team to have their photos taken by photographers. When it was time for the technology team to take their picture, their project manager (I couldn’t recall who it was) sat down and called out to the team, "Come over here, everyone! Let’s do this together!"

I saw Terrence and the other engineers join in, sitting down for the group photo. I walked over to Terrence and said, "You once asked me if all this hard work was worth it. Sitting here for this photo makes it worth it." Terrence looked genuinely happy.

I moved back to the outer area of the banquet, where my seat was located. I remembered that I had only secured an invitation through connections and wanted to join in the celebration. As I wandered around, hoping to spot someone I knew, the crowd felt overwhelming and packed.

Suddenly, I saw my elementary school classmate Wesley, who appeared to be a prominent figure and had sponsored a table. I heard him calling for people to join his table. Since I didn’t recognize anyone else in the outer area, I decided to join him.

As people began sitting down, I noticed there weren’t many seats left. Wesley, apparently struggling to fill the seat next to him, called out, "You can sit here!" I thought, "Alright, I’ll go sit there."

His table had a sofa-like seating arrangement, with a glass-topped sofa table beside it. After sitting down, Wesley complained about how uncomfortable the sofa was. I explained to him that, being in a public lounge area, the sofa cushions were designed to be firm to maintain their structure. Comfortable, softer sofas were typically meant for private spaces, not open halls like this.

Then, the scene shifted inexplicably. I found myself standing in front of a cremation furnace. Nearby, I sensed the presence of a ghost or spirit. I asked it, "Are you sure you want everything burned? Don’t you want to leave a trace in this world?" The spirit replied, "Burn it all. There’s no point in leaving anything behind—it’s better to start completely anew."

After that, I saw a pair of hands washing themselves in a sink, with someone saying they wanted to wash away the dust.

I’m not sure how these scenes connect to the Nobel Prize storyline. I’ll need to think about it further.

夢見我前公司的工程師團隊，他們一直報名參加諾貝爾技術獎的比賽。這獎項得獎不易，因為給獎單位不是只評分一個專案，而是平常的每個案子都要做得很好，才有機會入圍。可是平常案子那麼多，每個案子都有各種狀況，要能夠做好每一個專案，其實很不容易，也很辛苦。

因為我已經離開這家公司了，我看到以前我團隊的小組長 Terrence 在專案裡，做得很累很辛苦，讓他懷疑這工作是否有意義。後來得知他們的技術團隊得到諾貝爾技術獎，大家都欣喜若狂。

在頒獎晚宴上，主辦單位安排了一組桌椅專區，讓各獎項的得獎團隊去那裡讓攝影師拍照。輪到技術獎去拍照時，我看到他們的專案經理 (我不記得是誰) 就坐過去，同時喊著他的團隊「你們過來啊！大家一起來啊！」

我看到 Terrence 跟其他的工程師就坐到座位上去拍照。我走到 Terrence 旁邊跟他說：「你問我說值不值得做得那麼辛苦，你現在坐在這裡，照這張相片，就值得了。」Terrence 很高興。

我走到旁邊，因為我的座位在很外圍的區域。我記得那個時候好像也是透過關係，才有我的座位，想說也想來參加這個晚宴，共襄盛舉。

我在外圍區域到處看看是否會遇到認識的人。人好多好擠喔！然後我看到小學同學 Wesley，好像他是有頭有臉的名人吧！贊助了一桌。我聽到他在喊人加入他那一桌，心想反正外圍區我也沒認識什麼人，過去加入他那一桌好了。大家開始坐下來，我發現空位也不多了。

大概沒人要坐他旁邊，Wesley 喊著「你們可以過來坐這邊啊！」我心想「好吧！就過去坐吧！」

他那裡像是沙發的座位，旁邊連著一張玻璃桌面的沙發桌。我坐下來，Wesley 抱怨這沙發坐起來不舒服。我跟他解釋因為這是公共大廳的位置，一般放在這裡的沙發座墊要硬挺，才能撐住沙發的型，這種沙發當然不是坐舒服用的。如果想要坐起來舒服的沙發，座墊要柔軟。一般這種沙發會放在私密的空間，不適合放在這種大廳場所。

不知為何，場景切換到我站在一個火葬場的爐子前，感覺旁邊好像有個鬼還是靈魂。我跟他說「你確定要全部燒掉嗎？不想留一點在這個人世間嗎？」然後那個鬼魂就跟我說「燒了吧！留下這一點點也沒有用，不如有個全新的開始。」

接著我看到有一雙手在水槽洗手，那個人說要洗掉這些塵埃。我不知道這些場景跟諾貝爾獎有什麼關聯，要再來想一想。